stolid, behind the bustling streets and haphazard building of giza, the pyramids appeared through the gray haze of big city smog. they caught me by surprise. i think i expected more preparation, sand unfolding, crumbling rock, and then the grandeur.

but the grandeur appeared from the standard city scene. and once we drove through the gate and into the parking lot everything else was dwarfed by the sheer immensity of the pyramids. beyond ancient…beyond magnificent…